Last Updated on October 6, 2025 by Matt Staff
Step into the year 1939, a time when the world balanced between everyday life and the stirrings of immense change. These thirty photographs capture fleeting moments of ordinary people, busy streets, and quiet domestic scenes, offering a vivid glimpse into a year both familiar and extraordinary. Each image tells a story, preserving the details of a world on the edge of transformation.
Amid daily routines, the shadow of war was already spreading across the globe. 1939 marked the outbreak of World War II, a conflict that would reshape nations and lives. These photographs serve as windows into that fragile moment in history, allowing us to see the tension and humanity of a world caught between normalcy and total chaos. Let’s dive into 30 photos from the year 1939.
1. Albert Einstein with his stepdaughter Margot, at the 1939 World’s Fair
2. Margaret Hamilton as The Wicked Witch of the West, 1939
3. A 22-year-old John F. Kennedy, 1939
4. Norma Jean, 1939, who later became Marilyn Monroe
5. Einstein taking a load off at the beach, 1939
6. Kansas wheat found out women made clothes out of their fabric, so they started using flowered fabric for their sacks, 1939
7. Charlie Chaplin and Walt Disney, 1939
8. A colorized photo of a grocery store in 1939
9. Billie Holiday performing “Strange Fruit” in NYC’s first integrated club, 1939
10. The mechanics of manning the ball turret in WWII don’t look comfortable
11. The most dangerous wedding photos ever taken, 1939
12. Posing with the first Mickey and Minnie Mouse costumes, thank God they redesigned
13. Vivien Leigh, taking a break while filming Gone With The Wind, 1939
14. An oilfield truck driver sitting with his son before heading off to fight in the war, 1939
15. Disney artists meeting on how to animate water bubbles in “Pinocchio,” 1939
16. Window shopping in London with her pet cheetah, 1939
17. Frida Kahlo showing some love to an abandoned baby deer, 1939
18. The Red Rocks amphitheater in 1939
19. This tracked motorcycle looks like the most fun vehicle ever created
20. The panda only shoots in black and white, 1939
21. This is how the toughest sailors destroyed sea mines, 1939
22. Simo Häyhä, aka “White Death,” was a Finnish sniper who protected his homeland during the Winter War, 1939
23. Judy Garland’s test shot for The Wizard of Oz, 1939
24. An unemployed lumberjack who took his wife to find work, 1939
25. The poor puppy just wanted a biscuit, 1939
26. This car could run 80 miles on one gallon of gas
27. Judy Garland taking a break on the set of The Wizard of Oz, 1939
28. Navy Sailors would keep cats as pets to help control the rodent population
29. Taking inventory in the Seattle lumberyard, 1939
30. The Country Store in Gordonron, North Carolina, 1939
Want to see more content from the 1900s?
Check out 20 Unforgettable Stories about Criminals in the 1940s, or take a look at 15 Strange Dining Etiquette Rules From the 1920s. Finally, if you want to see photos from the first decade of the 20th century, check out 20 Colorized Photos from the First Decade of the 20th Century (1900-1910).
